The present invention relates to a multipurpose article of jewelry, and more particularly to a multipurpose decorative ring.
Decorative articles, such as articles of jewelry, and especially decorative rings, have been known and used since probably the very dawn of mankind. Such rings are worn for different reasons, by they symbolic to indicate, for instance, marital status or the like, possessive, to show, for instance, the wealth of the wearer, or emotional to show, for instance, the mood or feeling of the wearer. So, for instance, rings of different shape or carrying different gems will be carried by users of different ages, different rings will be worn for different occasions, and rings of different values will be worn by people of different social status. Whatever the reasons for changing the rings may be in the case of a particular user, it has been heretofore customary for persons of substantial and even not so substantial means to have a multitude of rings some of which were worn for some occasions and others for other occasions, and some of which were used by the same person at her or his young age and others as that person has been advancing in years.
It will be appreciated that the purchase of a complete set of rings which are suited for all contingencies which the owner of such set may encounter during his or her lifetime is a rather expensive proposition. Therefore, more often than not, the owner may not own the ring suited for some particular occasion, be it a happy event, such as a marriage or graduation, or a sad event, such as a funeral. Also, as the owner advances in years, some of the rings which were perfectly suited in his or her younger years, are obsolete or unsuited for use when the owner attains his or her middle age, and so on. For these reasons, except for very wealthy individuals, it was heretofore a very rare situation when an owner was able to assemble a complete set of rings for such different occasions.
In view of the above-mentioned need for, but expensiveness of, the assembling of a full set of different rings for different occasions, it has been heretofore customary, instead of obtaining such a full set of high-quality rings, to obtain either an incomplete set of high-quality rings, in which event it may be difficult to find a ring to suit a particular occasion, or to obtain a complete set of rings for various occasions, in which event, however, a person of modest means had to resort to the purchase of inferior quality rings set with inferior-quality gems or even simulated gems. Either of these situations, of course, is less than desirable.